When it was that we took the bus down from Toa Payoh to Suntec City, it has been a while, I'm afraid, and I can't seem to remember.
If I'm not wrong, it was early December when we decided- quite on an impulse- to make our way downtown instead of heading to Toa Payoh Central, or upwards to Bishan.
Bus 57 takes a route that begins from Bishan and right after turning into Toa Payoh Lorong 6 (after the Toa Payoh Lorong 7 park at the junction) it goes straight past the still-building community club, the Madrasah Al-Arabiah Al-Islamiah, Pei Chun Public School, and the bus stop near Blk 17 of Kim Keat Palm.
We boarded the bus here, but Chonkycam didn't come out until the bus was on the SAFRA side of Lorong 6 Toa Payoh going to turn onto the roundabout.
On surface it may seem like there's nothing much to be seen- or that people who live in the 'hood have seen it many a time- but there are the 5-Room HDB Point Block flats that hold the singular reputation serving as accommodation for athletes during the Asian Games back in the 70s. Today that part doesn't get mentioned often, but I always think of these blocks as being the landmark to Swatow Seafood Restaurant, Sheng Siong and the NTUC next door.
Further on of Lorong 6 one comes to the towering buildings of HDB Hub, and then right after that, the bus interchange of Toa Payoh housing estate.
Here the bus went onto the turn out onto the PIE heading towards Tuas.
On one side, if I'm not wrong, is a condominium, following which there are more public housing flats- don't ask me which blocks they are, I don't know- but the bus now turns onto Thomson Road.
It is somewhere around here where one passes what I think is a telecommunications building belonging to the Authority (I can't recall which department this would belong to- MDDI?) and then right after that, the Thomson Medical Center.
From here the bus makes its way down, passing by a stretch of continuous construction, a couple of houses and apartments, and then, a landmark which has been there for a while and has always seemed to catch my eye.
I don't know much about the Seventh-Day Adventists, nor do I know much of where their churches are- save for one on Dunman Road and another in Jurong- but here is one of their churches, and the San Yu Adventist School, which, if I'm not wrong, is known to their community and which has been there for a fairly long time.
The bus comes up to the IRAS Building, with the Goldhill Plaza in the distance, and then continues making its way down past the United Square Shopping Mall.
From Thomson Road the bus now turns into what I think is Keng Lee Road,
Over here I'm not sure what the bus passes by- there don't seem to be any landmarks I know of save for a condo or two- but there is the junction of Cavenagh Road, which, by the way, is probably one of the most interesting roads this side of town.
On Keng Lee Road the bus goes further down, now passing by the KK Women's and Children's Hospital, and then finally it was back on Bukit Timah Road, with the One World International School to my right, and MacKenzie Road behind.
Chonkycam went back to her bag somewhere around here.
We were getting down a couple bus stops more, right after Rochor, and Bugis, at the bus stop outside Shaw Center on Beach Road.